Nissan CEO Ghosn : “Best Battery Maker Is LG Chem"

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evnow

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I had already posted this WSJ interview with Ghosn in the battery future thread - but probably it needs a separate thread.

Here is the link to the insideevs story.

http://insideevs.com/nissan-ceo-best-battery-maker-lg-chem/

Ghosn is saying to things
- Nissan will select the "best" performing battery for "future"
- LG is right now the best battery maker

So, the question is - what is this "future" Ghosn talks abot ? Is that Leaf Gen 2 or further into the future ? After all, if that future is Leaf 2, Ghosn still can't be talking about changing the battery supply now - and make the 2016/17 timeline for Leaf 2.

So, the big question is - Is the next gen Leaf delayed ?
 
And if the LEAF uses LG Chem will it be liquid cooled?

GM Bolt is assumed to use the LG Chem at this point from a few sources I've read.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098866_gm-shows-chevy-bolt-ev-electric-car-prototypes-testing-video

GM also declined to comment on the lithium-ion cell supplier for the Bolt EV or the size of its battery pack.

Fletcher did say, however, that "LG Chem has been a very valued and trusted supplier."

We think that's a nod and a wink.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098350_why-lg-chem-leads-in-electric-car-batteries-materials-science-it-says

Prabhakar Patil (CEO of the LG Chem Power battery unit) says that the progress made between 2010, when the first Chevy Volt went on sale, and the batteries he forsees in 2017, has been faster than he anticipated back then.

"There is not one thing you can point to and say, 'That’s what the breakthrough was,' ” he told ChargedEVs.

"It’s a combination of several things."

Patil expects that a $30,000 electric car with a range of 200 miles will be commercially viable by 2017 or 2018.

While GM hasn't confirmed that its upcoming 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV will use LG Chem cells, that is widely assumed to be the case--and the Bolt EV to be the car he refers to.
 
It kind of makes you wonder what Nissan would do with that billion dollar battery plant in Tennessee... Seems like incredibly bad planning on Nissan's part...
 
TomT said:
It kind of makes you wonder what Nissan would do with that billion dollar battery plant in Tennessee... Seems like incredibly bad planning on Nissan's part...
They could write it off. They could make batteries w/LG there. They could make batteries for other applications and/or vehicles.

I believe some of Nissan's/Infiniti's current hybrids use batteries from that plant, Unfortunately, they aren't exactly big sellers (http://www.hybridcars.com/june-2015-dashboard/) and the Pathfinder Hybrid quietly was dropped: http://www.autoblog.com/2015/07/02/nissan-pathfinder-hybrid-dead-2016/.
 
I saw a video of the Tennessee plant showing the electrodes being imported from Japan on a role. So
if only the electrodes changed, then the Tennessee plant would still be used. I would think even other
changes could be made, and the Tennessee plant would still be used. Makes me wonder if the Tesla
plant will make there own electrodes.
 
TomT said:
It kind of makes you wonder what Nissan would do with that billion dollar battery plant in Tennessee... Seems like incredibly bad planning on Nissan's part...

Maybe Tesla will take it off their hands, for Gigafactory II.
 
TomT said:
It kind of makes you wonder what Nissan would do with that billion dollar battery plant in Tennessee... Seems like incredibly bad planning on Nissan's part...
Irrespective of whether the tech comes from AESC or LG, batteries need to be built - and they'll be built at the TN plant.

That is not the issue, here.

The question is what will Nissan use for Leaf 2.
- Have they already contracted with LG but are not disclosing ?
- Is the LG talk purely for future beyond Leaf 2 ?
- Is the Leaf 2 delayed ?
 
I just read that Carlos Ghosen said LG has figured out a way to substantially reduce the cost of producing Li-ion batteries while simultaneously increasing the energy density. This is supposedly how GM plans to introduce a 200 mile mile Chevy Bolt for $35K in 2017. He said Nissan needs to stay competitive and if necessary, they would drop partner NEC for LG if they had to for the next gen Leaf. And that they would sell their battery-making operations to LG who would then produce batteries in the same locations.

It is too early to speculate, but I hope the same technology would be used to produce replacement batteries for 1st gen Leafs as well. Mine has 9 bars, 4 years and 3 months old and 43K miles. I'm estimating I'll need to replace the battery in about 2~3 years and am not interested in the same tech as current.
 
I'm not as convinced about that... Funny how we were originally told in the early days that the battery was entirely Nissan's own design and manufacture...

 
TomT said:
I'm not as convinced about that... Funny how we were originally told in the early days that the battery was entirely Nissan's own design and manufacture...

Well, AESC is half owned by Nissan.

There are several reasons Nissan would continue to use the battery plant
- It is right next to the car plant
- Having taken cheap federal loan, it can't be shut down easily
- LG may not have enough capacity to supply Leaf 2 batteries

BTW, note that the battery plant in TN is owned by Nissan - not AESC.
 
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